Let’s hear it for wine-based cocktails!

Hunter Valley winemakers may have raised their eyebrows when local bar manager Jamie Walker (below right) began using their wines in his cocktails, but he says the concept is taking off.

Walker, of Goldfish Hunter Valley, told TheShout the idea of wine-based cocktails came from his experience bartending in fine dining restaurants with cocktail bars attached in his native home of Scotland.

“I used to have to work on my wine knowledge while working on my spirits knowledge,” he said.

“Vermouths came into it quite a lot, when you’re making gin martinis you realise they are all wine-based.”

Walker, who relocated from Goldfish’s Sydney venue last year, said the Hunter location had given him the opportunity to do something different.

“I had a huge arsenal of wines to play around with, and a lot more information on wine than I’d ever had before,” he said.

“So I started to match flavours and it all erupted from there.”

As well as creating drinks that were local and unique, Walker said the lower alcohol wine-based cocktails on the menu were well suited to the bar’s rural location, which is only accessible by car.

“Wine’s a fantastic option for lowering the ABV of your cocktail, and it’s got so many different, beautiful flavour combinations,” he said.

“White wines with gins and vodkas and liqueurs work very well. Obviously with your darker reds, you can start adding whisky, rums, and then you’ve got your dessert wines which are fortified, they tend to work really well with richer spirits that have a slight residual sweetness to start.”